Nashville Lights
by MuseGirltheauthor
Summary: AU. Clearview High was an average Tennessee high school filled with not so average students. But together they grow, learn, and love within the walls of this small school building.
1. Chapter 1

**So, yeah. Another story. I'll update Unexpected at some point also. I haven't had much writing time because of school. This is an AU high school story set in Nashville and not in Brooklyn solely for the way I work the gods in. Basically, they're from Thoth's neck of Tennessee and they're centered around University of Memphis. Though, it will still have similarities to the way some of them live in Brooklyn. **

* * *

><p>The front of Clearview High was buzzing with activity. Students filed into the building from buses, cars, and even a few bicycles. The buzz of a small vehicle zipped through the school parking lot and into a vacant spot. A girl got off her motorcycle, taking her helmet off to reveal short black hair. Her amber eyes scanned the crowd for a familiar curly haired boy as she tucked her helmet in her bag. As soon as they locked on the back of his head, she raced towards him.<p>

Said boy was carrying a stack of books while dodging the rest of the crowd flooding into the entrance. The amber eyed girl came up from behind him and greeted him with a kiss on the cheek. The tan skinned boy almost dropped his books. "Hey, Z."

The girl smiled. "Hi Carter. I see that you came prepared."

"It's our junior year, Zia. We've got to do a lot to prepare for college. SATs, college applications, scholarship applications, jobs for experience-"

Zia cut him off. "We're only juniors. College can wait until later in the year. It's only the first day of school, Carter."

"I just want to get into Yale so badly, like my parents were."

Zia nodded, knowing about how he aspired to be like his dad. "Okay, but you will be stressed out taking this all on at the same time."

He sighed in defeat, "I know Zia."

"Good. Now let's find our lockers so you do not have to carry all those books around," she said while picking up a few from his stack to lighten the load. He smiled and walked with her into the building.

* * *

><p>Meanwhile, the school's star couple was about to make their entrance. They were Jaz Anderson and Walt Stone. Walt, the school's quarterback since last year, went to open the door to his old beat-up Toyota for his girlfriend. From the car the blonde girl stepped out, her azure eyes meeting his brown ones and smiling. Jaz was your all around American girl, pretty, popular, nice, and even a little smart. It was a perfect match in teenager standards, head cheerleader with the quarterback.<p>

"Thanks Walt. I have a cheer meeting after school so I'll swing by your place afterwards if you're there," the blonde drawled.

Walt gave his girlfriend a goofy grin. "I will be Jaz." She grabbed her bag and slipped her hand into his. Once he closed the door, he hit the lock button on his key ring and got ready to dodge past the rush of his classmates and new students.

"We don't want to be late for the first day." He gave her a small nod and walked towards the front door with her.

* * *

><p>Freshmen bustled in from the doors to the auditorium for homeroom assignments. A small group of girls sat in the back. A voice from the front of the crowded auditorium ordered the chatter throughout the seats to cease. Once the murmurs were put to rest, the man standing at the podium cleared his throat. "Good morning incoming students, I am Principal Sawyer. Here at Clearview High, we only expect the most out of our young minds."<p>

One of the girls in the back rolled her eyes and leaned back. "And I thought the middle school principal droned on and on," she said, earning a laugh from her three friends.

"And now, to introduce our newest teacher straight from the University of Memphis, Mr. Blake," the principal finally announced. A young man who, if he tried hard enough, could pass for a senior, stood at the podium. He was pale with dark brown eyes and neatly trimmed dark brown hair. He wore a black button down shirt with some dark slacks to match.

Two of the girls' eyes widened. "He's hot," piped up a red-headed girl, Liz.

"Agreed," the other girl, Emma, said.

Their friend who made the joke earlier rolled her eyes. "He's a teacher for God's sake."

"Sadie, it's not our fault he looks so good," Liz pouted. Emma nodded in agreement, making Sadie roll her eyes again.

"What do you think, Alyssa?"

The brown haired girl shrugged. "He's a little cute considering he's going to be one of our teachers."

"See Sadie, even Alyssa agrees he's hot," Emma stated matter-of-factly.

The blonde sighed. "Whatever, he'll just be another guy you can't date, like Darren Criss."

"Darren Criss is so dreamy," Liz gushed, making Sadie shake her head.

The lecture continued on until each student was required to file according to last name in rows for homerooms. Sadie joined the group for Ja-Mz, being Sadie Kane. Her friends Liz Clayborn and Emma Goodwick went to their separate lines. Alyssa Jameson followed her into line, when she was knocked back a few steps.

Alyssa scowled as a boy shoved her aside. "I'm walking here," she protested. The boy smirked.

"Now I am too." Once he turned to face her, she knew who he was, Julian Martinez.

She groaned. "Go away Julian." She already had enough problems with his jokes on her during middle school, but now they were in homerooms together, she was dreading her first year of high school.

"I have this homeroom too, you know," he replied smirking slightly.

"I know," she mumbled, walking closer to Sadie. "God, I hate him," Alyssa muttered under her breath so Julian wouldn't hear.

"At least we only have homeroom with him," Sadie whispered back to her friend.

"I hope so Sadie, I hope so."

The young man from before came to the front of their line. "I will be your homeroom teacher for this year. As you heard earlier, my name is Mr. Blake."

From the next line over, Liz mouthed to her friends, 'Lucky'. Sadie sometimes wondered why she was friends with Liz.

"Follow me to room 208 please." The class obeyed, trailing behind him to the previously mentioned room. They later entered a small classroom on the second floor of the building. Its desks were in a uniform line. The front of the class had a SMART Board surrounded by a chalkboard on it. Covering the white walls were casual posters relating to history like Egyptian sarcophagi, Roman architecture, and Renaissance knights.

"Here is where you will come each morning before first period," Mr. Blake started, "On each of the desks is a folder with your names on it, each containing your schedules, school rules, health forms, and your planners in which to write down homework and other activities in." The class searched for their respective folders. Sadie found hers a few desks away from Alyssa. She sat down at the desk and looked through her folder.

Inside, she found her schedule. She scanned it, discovering that her fourth period class was with Mr. Blake. She looked up from the paper when Alyssa tapped her shoulder. "Do we have any classes together?"

Sadie shrugged. "Let me look at your schedule." Alyssa nodded and handed it to her. Sadie looked it over. "We've got fourth and fifth together," she announced.

"Cool," Alyssa said with a smile. Sadie smiled back. She began to say something when the speaker cracked from the back of the classroom.

"Good morning students, welcome back to school. This year, we hope that you will do your best to work hard and achieve the most you can," the announcer spoke. "Now please stand for the pledge." The kids stood up, hands over their hearts while the pledge was said. "You may now be seated." They obeyed the announcer.

Said announcer continued to talk about lunch schedules, clubs, and after school activities. "That is all. Have a wonderful school year at Clearview High." The bell rang after that final announcement and students exited their respective homerooms, about to the start their first classes on the first day of a long school year.

* * *

><p><strong>A note about the Yale thing, I didn't recall where exactly Mr. and Mrs. Kane went to college so I just threw Yale out there. If you know where they went, feel free to tell me. I hope you all like this AU. Let me know in the reviews what you think, what I can improve on, and what I did good on.<strong>


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter will seem more filler-ish, but it goes into the backgrounds of Zia and Walt and setting the scene up for the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it even the little fluffy-ish moments of it.**

* * *

><p>Once the bell rang, Carter grabbed the two textbooks he decided to keep from his large stack off his homeroom desk. He scrambled through the hall to his first class of the day, English. A familiar face soon joined him on the way. "Hey Carter, do you have English first too?" A girl with Arabic features asked, noticing him heading towards the English section of the building.<p>

Carter smiled. "Hey, Zia. Yeah, I have English this period with Mrs. Garrett."

"I have the same teacher. It is strange how we always end up in the same English class," Zia commented. He nodded in response. The two kept walking until they reached a room at the end of the hall marked with the name Garrett, Room 45.

Carter opened the door to the class room for them, gesturing for her to walk in first. Zia rolled her eyes. "I can open the door just fine, Carter Kane."

"I know that. Can't I do something nice for my girlfriend?" He walked in instead, but left the door open for her. Zia followed in pursuit, taking the vacant seat next to the front corner desk Carter chose to sit at. She wouldn't have preferred to sit this close to the teacher, but it was better than sitting by herself in the back. In the very back of the room, Walt Stone shuffled into an empty seat, almost tardy.

Zia would never admit this to anyone, but English class was something she always struggled with. Before she was brought to America by her foster parents, she had lived in a small village called al-Hamrah Makhan. The village got destroyed by a massive sand storm when she was eight years old, killing everyone but her. Her mother had hidden her in their fire pit under some reeds so she would be safe. Some of the people who visited the village after the accident said it was the curse of an old stone artifact that caused the storm. Zia on the other hand thought that was the most ridiculous theory she had ever heard.

She had been taught the Arabic tongue by birth, making it a challenge to get accustomed to English. She was more comfortable with the language verbally; the written forms still gave her trouble along with the occasional mispronunciation of words. She realized she had sank into her own mind too deeply when the jolting sound of the late bell made her jump a bit.

Carter looked at her before turning back to what the teacher had to say. The plump woman was writing something on the white board in front of the classroom. "Now class, today I will be going over the rules and regulations of our class today," she began while continuing her writing, "I assume that all of you read the Great Gatsby over break?" Carter produced his copy of it as proof.

The teacher scanned the room before nodding in satisfaction. She then pulled out her attendance sheet and started calling out names. "Zia Rashid," the woman announced with horrible pronunciation.

"Zia _Rashid_," Zia corrected, "And present." Zia's adoptive parents let her use her birth surname instead of theirs for the sake of 'remembering her past' as the adoptive agency put it.

"Oh," the teacher replied after checking her name off. The rest of class was pretty dull to the students. A few of them even went to sleep, only to be jolted awake by the bell signaling the end of the period. Walt was one of the few, almost smacking his neighbor in the arm. Embarrassed, he left as soon as he could. "Have your parents or guardians sign your forms and turn them in tomorrow," Mrs. Garrett called out as the students exited her room.

Zia and Carter walked out of the small, white walled room. "I've got Physics for second," Carter said.

"I guess I will see you later possibly, I have Trigonometry next."

Carter nodded and waved. "See you later, Z." The two went their separate ways.

* * *

><p>"Hey Jaz," Walt said when he spotted his girlfriend.<p>

"Hi, I've got to go to Trig. What do you have?" Jaz asked, joining him by the stairwell.

"Biology," he groaned. "It sucks. Lucky for me, shop's next."

Jaz laughed. "Biology isn't so bad, but Trig's a nightmare."

Walt squeezed her hand. "Hey, at least we have the same lunch this year."

"I'll see you then," she replied before kissing his cheek. She went down the stairs to the math section of the school. He grinned while watching her leave.

* * *

><p>Walt once again sat in the back of the class he went to that morning. The teacher was starting to hand out syllabuses when he arrived. Once she came to his desk, she placed a paper on his desk. He read what the units were going to be and paused at the section 'Heredity- Biological Diseases'. He pushed it aside. He honestly didn't want to be reminded again about the discovery that was made about him this past summer.<p>

Over the summer, Walt was diagnosed with the disease that killed off many of the members of his father's side of the family. He has had to go to treatments on Saturdays, but they don't seem to be helping. God, he hasn't even told Jaz or his other friends about it… He shook the thought from his mind. He wanted to live his last days without all this drama. Walt decided to refocus on the teacher for the remainder of second period.

_At least I have shop soon…_, he reminded himself was sort of his place where he could just let his hands express himself. Though being the quarterback of the football team made him never able to say it out loud, of course. He liked working with his hands like his dad used to before he died at a young age. Once the bell rang, Walt was finally free to forget the stress in his life, if only for a short amount of time.

* * *

><p><strong>That Walt ending was a bit angsty. Leave some feedback in a review for what you liked and didn't. Happy Holidays to you all and see you next chapter for the return of Sadie and Mr. Blake and what will go down in Trig class.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**So, I only got the chance to finish this update, but Unexpected is for sure coming Saturday. This is where things start to get more complicated. This chapter is dedicated to my mother for it is her birthday today. It is also dedicated to my unofficial beta HyperandProudOfIt. I basically send her each chapter in advance and she looks it over. And now I present chapter three.**

* * *

><p>The bell rang loudly through the almost empty halls of Clearview High. Jaz grumbled as she quickly snuck into Trigonometry. "Miss Anderson, would you mind telling the class why you are tardy?" The teacher, Mr. Applebee, interrogated from his position at his desk in front of the classroom. Jaz felt twenty or so pairs of eyes land on her. She even heard a few snickers from some of her less mature classmates.<p>

"No reason, sir," she answered meekly. God, she hated when teachers seemed to do things just to embarrass their students like what had just happened. And Mr. Applebee was the teacher who did them the most frequently.

"Alright then, I'm sure you can find your assigned seat in the front Miss Anderson. It is the only empty one," he announced casually. She nodded and scanned the front row quickly for said empty seat. She soon found it right near the white board on the left side of the room. Right next to Zia Rashid.

Now, there was nothing wrong with Zia of course. She wasn't some sort of alien or deformed blob, but she always seemed a bit cold to Jaz. As far as Jaz knew, Zia was sort of a lone wolf, based on never really seeing her with a large group. Zia was a reserved person and hard to see through.

Jaz promptly took her seat while Zia readjusted hers so she was looking at the board in the front of the room and not Jaz.

The class was soon emerged into a discussion about what to expect to learn in this semester followed by the beginning of their first unit.

Jaz ducked down to reach her back pack and started to rummage through it for a pencil and notebook. Once she selected the appropriate one for math, she peeked out from under the desk to face Zia with a notepad and old-fashioned looking ink pen. They looked like something her grandmother would use.

"What?" Zia questioned Jaz with an arched eyebrow, "Haven't you ever seen someone taking notes before?"

"I like your little notepad," Jaz commented in a lame attempt to cover up her curiousness.

"Okay…" Zia trailed off, ready to end the brief conversation at that.

"Where did you get it from?" Jaz asked. Maybe if she talked to Zia, they could get along and maybe even be friends.

"My boyfriend got it for me for my birthday," she replied in the hopes of getting Jaz to stop distracting her. Zia turned her attention back to what was on the slide projected on the board.

"Cool. Mine got me this necklace with-"

"Why are you talking to me?" Zia questioned, not looking up from her notes.

"Sorry, just trying to make conversation…" Jaz said.

"I'm trying to concentrate." Zia whispered in a harsh sounding tone. Jaz decided to back off from there, realizing she wasn't getting anywhere by continuing this lost exchange. Jaz could only hope that they could at least tolerate each other until the end of the semester.

So far, high school was just like middle school for Sadie, only with older people. There were the same old kids in her classes. The same class clowns, the same immature boys, the same girls who only strive to look good, and then there were the outsiders like Sadie who didn't fit into a necessary cliché.

The only real problem was getting lost through the crowd, and that happened to Sadie that day often. She was now making her way to Mr. Blake's fourth period class from her third period Gym class. She worked through the flooded hallways back to the room she had homeroom in. One her way, she smacked into an older guy. "Sorry," the guy muttered, helping her pick up the books that he knocked out of her hands.

"Just watch it," she replied. When she looked up from the floor, she was faced with Walt Stone, the school quarterback.

"Will do. Walt Stone by the way," he greeted.

"Sadie Kane."

"Freshman I take it?" He asked, looking at her. She was a bit shorter than him

"Yes," she said with a nod.

"Well good luck on your first day then." And with that, he left her staring at him like a dork.

Alyssa walked towards Sadie. "Hey Sadie, who was that?" She asked, gesturing to where Walt disappeared from.

"Walt Stone," Sadie said.

"You mean the guy who's the quarterback for the football team?"

"The same one."

Alyssa inspected her friend. "You do know that he has a girlfriend right?"

Sadie rolled her eyes. "I don't have a crush on the bloody guy," she said, using British slang that worked its way into her daily vocabulary due to visits with her grandparents in London.

Alyssa rolled her eyes. "And you aren't in bloody Britain you git," Alyssa teased in an obnoxiously bad British accent. "Now come on before we're late." Alyssa expressed her more playfully side around Sadie which was what made their friendship work.

Sadie laughed and walked to class with Alyssa with causal chatting on the way there. When they entered the history room, they soon saw Sadie's brother talking with Mr. Blake.

"Carter?" Sadie was stunned. "What are you doing in ninth grade history?"

"This is your brother Miss Kane?" Mr. Blake looked between the two as if trying to see if this was really true.

"Yes, he is. Is that a problem?" Sadie snapped. She hated when people would assume that they weren't really related because of their differences in physical appearance. It wasn't her fault she looked like their mom and he looked like their dad. You would think in this day and age, people wouldn't be so surprised at the results of being children of an interracial couple.

"No, I didn't say that. I just assumed otherwise." Mr. Blake saved.

"I came because my teacher sent me here to give these books to your teacher," Carter said, gesturing to the small stack on Mr. Blake's desk. Carter fixed his satchel so that it was firmly resting on his shoulder. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to get back to class."

Sadie watched him go before turning back to Mr. Blake. "He knows his history," Mr. Blake commented, "and can I say the same for you?"

"I know some things about it."

"Great." He gave her a warm smile. "I look forward to seeing what you know."

Sadie nodded while he walked away. The second time she felt like a complete dork that day within the span of about ten minutes.

"Looks like Liz and Emma aren't the only ones crushing on Mr. Blake," Alyssa whispered in a sing-song tone.

"Oh shut up Alyssa," Sadie scolded while taking her seat beside her friend. _No way am I going crushing on my teacher_, she thought making it a silent vow to herself. But would she keep it?

* * *

><p><strong>So yeah, this is the Sanubis that is going to happen. Annie dearest is a history teacher but you'll find out how Mr. Blake = Annie later. Next chapter will include some Zarter-y goodness. Feedback is always welcomed and appreciated in the reviews. So now I bid you all good day.<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I have been busy for a while with finals and semester changes and band stuff, so sorry about not updating right away. I'm working on getting into a habit of updating often but then again I lie all the time when updating so yeah... awkward. Hopefully y'all will like this chapter.**

* * *

><p>Carter Kane left his sister's class in a hurry to get back to his own. He didn't think that his teacher would be impressed with him if he returned to her class later. And he really needed her to like him. Once he saw no other teachers nearby, he sprinted towards Mrs. Smyth's room. He failed to notice the 'Caution Wet Floor' sign by the broken drinking fountain in the upperclassman's history section so he skidded across the floor. Luckily, he managed to grab the door to his class.<p>

He opened it and soon faced the short teacher. "Mr. Kane, I hope you have a good explanation for being a minute late back to class?" Mrs. Smyth was the strictest teacher in the building and unfortunately the least forgiving.

"Mr. Blake, um, struck up a conversation about Egyptian history with me."

The pudgy woman raised an eyebrow but let it slide. At least for now, her eyes seemed to say as he walked past her. He slipped into the vacant seat by Zia. Nobody but him would really want to sit by a 'towel-head' like her. And this fact irritated him. That was _his_ girlfriend they were talking about.

Most of the jocks and popular kids were arrogant jerks just like on TV. Sometimes Carter just wanted to take one of his many textbooks and slap them into next week. There may have been some nice kids in that crowd, but they blended in pretty well with their nastier friends. They let their friends treat everyone 'beneath them' like dirt. And that made Carter's anger pretty hard to control.

"Hey Z," Carter mumbled under his breath.

She must have heard him because she whispered back, "Hey. Are you done kissing up to Mrs. Smyth for the day?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I think she's made it clear that I am."

She smirked. "So you admit that you are trying to win her over by being her academically inclined slave?" She joked lightly. Contrary to the belief of most other students, Zia had a sense of humor. Though it was mostly used in teasing her boyfriend.

"Oh ha-ha. Real funny, Z," the curly haired boy replied.

Her smirk faded back into the same neutral expression that was normally seen on her face. "Just don't get too caught up in trying to impress Mrs. Smyth just because you want a scholarship to get into Yale. You can get in on your own if you try hard enough."

I am trying, he thought, trying to make everyone proud of me.

They turned their focus back onto the blackboard in front of them. In messy handwriting, the question, 'What is History?' was written in the middle of it with yellow chalk. Zia had to squint in order to see what was written.

"Isn't that what this class is supposed to tell us?" A low voice grumbled two rows behind the couple. Carter glanced back at whoever said it. It was Walt Stone.

"Walt, the question is supposed to relate to us and what we think it is, not the class," the blonde next to him whispered. Carter knew her too. She was the prettiest and most popular girl in school, but that description wasn't exactly what he came up with. She was Jaz Anderson, the head cheerleader and unofficial head girl of Clearview High.

"Hello?" Jaz asked when she noticed Carter staring. Walt raised an eyebrow at him. Carter turned his head away, embarrassed, leaving the couple confused.

"What was his problem?" Walt muttered to Jaz.

She shrugged. "I don't know. But is that…?" She glanced over at where Carter was sitting at the person next to him.

"Is that who?"

"Zia Rashid," Jaz finished her previous question.

"Zia Rashid?" Walt repeated with curiosity.

"That girl I was talking about at lunch before class started," she said to him.

"Oh. Her?" He shrugged. "Maybe."

Jaz was about to respond when Mrs. Smyth bellowed, "Quiet class. Now take out a sheet of paper and answer the question on the board." She grabbed a small piece of yellow chalk and underlined the written prompt for emphasis. The room burst into quiet chatter, begging for supplies, and the occasional laugh directed at Mrs. Smyth's red pants, sweater vest, and seventies hair style.

A folded up piece of paper sailed in between Jaz and Walt labeled, 'From Courtney'. Jaz's eyes looked back and forth before snatching it up and opening it. 'Oh my god Jaz, Smyth's outfit is totes ugly. Where does she shop? That place where towel-head Rashid works?' it read. Jaz rolled her eyes. She wrote back, 'I know it's ugly but what makes you think she'd get it from wherever this towel-head person works?'

Jaz sent it back from where it came from only to get it back ten minutes later into the period. 'Towel-head = Zia Rashid. And she works at that weird history shop where all the old things go for 20% off on Tuesdays.' Jaz laughed at that. 'Okay. But I think Mrs. Smyth's more ancient than anything in there.' She ignored the towel-head thing for the lack of wanting to argue about it with her friend. Plus Courtney probably wouldn't listen.

The notes exchange went on throughout class to the point where Jaz was heard by the people on the front row during the classwork period. An irritated Zia turned towards her. "Can you be quiet?" she requested sharply.

"Sorry, just talking to my friend," Jaz explained.

"If you call talking writing notes like people did in middle school," Zia mumbled to herself.

"You don't have to be so rude about it."

Zia sighed. "Just be quiet for all our sakes."

"Both of you ladies will be silent in my room during work time," Mrs. Smyth's voice cut in, "or you will receive detention on the first day of school." The two nodded at the teacher and looked down at the text book scavenger hunts in front of them.

"Hey, Jaz," Walt whispered, "where is the French Revolution in this book?"

"Somewhere between the Renaissance and Industrial Revolution," Jaz answered.

"Gee Jaz, thanks for the specific answer," Walt said sarcastically.

She opened the book to the glossary. "Here," she pointed, "page 312."

"Thanks." He smiled at her.

"So basically the Opium Wars was pretty much a giant drug war?" Zia asked Carter, amused.

"It was about trading actually, but the opium was a big part of it," Carter said smiling at her expression.

Zia nodded. "Right, but we both know the rest of the class won't see it that way."

"Yeah." Carter noticed two jocks in the corner of the room playing paper football with a folded up syllabus. "They definitely will if they even bother to remember what they are actually about."

"True," she agreed, scanned the book for more things to put on the worksheet.

The bell finally rang and let the students free. Zia and Carter were the first ones out and on the way to Gym. On their way, they passed Sadie whose face was a light pink. "Sadie," Zia acknowledged the younger girl. Sadie didn't answer and kept walking. "What is wrong with your sister?"

He lifted his shoulders in a small shrug. "Who knows with freshman girls?"

Zia chuckled and playfully knocked into him. "We still have another class and I may get the chance to beat you around the track." He laughed back and put an arm around her shoulders.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: Hehehe. What is with Sadie? Could it have something to do with her last class? Did the mystery character not yet introduced in the story strike up a conversation with her? When will we finally get past the first day of school? All answers will be revealed in the next installment of... this story. Let me know what'cha think and have a nice day.**


End file.
